Appearance of retinal capillaries from transgenic mice.

<p>(<b>A</b>) Confocal microscopy of a retinal capillary from an SMAA-GFP mouse illustrating the appearance of pericytes with their finger-like cytoplasmic projections compassing the vascular endothelial cells. GFP is present in the cytoplasm of the pericytes and their processes (white arrows). (<b>B</b>) Bright field image of the same capillary showing the presence of red blood cells (arrowheads). (<b>C</b>) Appearance of retinal capillaries isolated by trypsin digestion illustrating that GFP is retained in the intact pericytes and can be used for their identification. (<b>D</b>) Appearance of the same capillaries by light microscopy.